1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method for producing a thin casting of Cr-series stainless steel.
2. Description of the Related Arts
The thin sheet of stainless steel as the product is manufactured as described in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 55-97430, by forming a continuously cast casting having a sheet thickness of approximately 200 mm, rough rolling or heating the casting to 1200.degree. C., then hot-rolling the casting to form a hot-rolled strip and subjecting the strip to a hot-coil annealing in a bell type annealing furnace.
As described above, since a thick casting is used in the known techniques, a lot of energy must be utilized to obtain the requisite hot-rolled strip. In addition, since the hot-rolled strip is in an .alpha.-phase in the as-rolled state, the strip must be annealled in a bell type furnace over a long period of time, to decompose the .alpha.-phase and thus enhance the cold-rollability.